Law of Attraction: I’m Feeling Good but the Inspired Action Isn’t Coming

Inspired action is one of the core ‘tenets’ of harnessing the power of the law of attraction. Taking action that feels good sure beats taking action that feels shitty.

Getting results from action that feels light, right and good is much more preferable to getting results from action that feels hard and forced.

It is a wonderful feeling when we act based on an intuitive nudge and then something wonderful results.

Because we are very action-oriented by nature, our mind can really zero in on this piece of the manifesting puzzle. When that inspired action doesn’t seem to be making itself known, this doesn’t sit very well.

Today’s post focuses in on this issue, and was inspired by the below question from one of my awesome readers:

The “inspired ideas” thing. Like, for me…I can have 3 or four days straight of feeling super high energy (from doing all the inner work) and I go about my day, but I never get any “inspired ideas” during that time of feeling good, that may bring about a solution to any shit in my life. In the moment I don’t seem to care….as I am feeling good and that’s the point….but when the heaviness comes back I notice that I hadn’t gotten a single inspired idea. So what would a person do if they are feeling good and going with the flow….but no “inspired ideas” show up? Does it mean that those ideas are not relevant or important in means of presenting a solution to any of my problems?

You mentioned that when you are feeling good, the ideas, and inspired actions will present themselves….but I don’t seem to get any. So then my brain says, “Well I guess it’s up to Me now, to figure out a plan since the universe isn’t offering us any ideas!” That’s usually when I start feeling bad, because my brain’s “plans” never end up working out that well. I’m trying to go with the flow. I’m breathing consciously. I’m meditating and relaxing the best I can. I’ve adopted the “I’ve put in my 2 weeks at work” mentality. All of it is good. I just haven’t gotten any inspired ideas….and nothing has manifested either…..so my brain tries to take over again. I’m pretty patient….but every 6 or 7 days of “going with flow” and being “idea-less”…..well, you get the picture.

We’re Very Used to Being Motivated By Pressure

This idea of acting from inspiration, doing what feels good, being guided by our higher self, inner wisdom, or whatever your preferred term, is a really new way of operating for most of us.

In fact, there is a good chance you may never become 100 percent comfortable with this sort of relationship to action at all times. After all, your mind will never stop operating as it does. You just get better at not listening to it, or being as affected by its ‘opinions’ as much.

We are much more used to being motivated by pressure. We feel badly and we must take some sort of action to ‘fix’ the problem. Something is not going right and we need to figure out how to correct course.

We criticize ourselves and point out all the ways in which we are fucking things up, and this is supposed to be a good motivator to do things differently, to make improvements.

Basically, our bad feelings serve as the catalyst to make some sort of change. At the beginning, this is what usually motivates us. That sense of contrast is helpful for allowing us to figure out what sort of experiences we prefer to have.

But beyond this point, using negativity as the motivator, feeling pressure to figure things out and make a change, fighting against what is, etc…doesn’t gel very well with deliberate creation.

Making this transition from taking action from a place of negativity to taking action from a place of positivity may take a bit. The ‘inspired action’ may not reveal itself immediately.

And that’s okay. You just have to muster up a bit of faith and trust in how the process works, and know that if any sort of action will enhance your life, or help move you towards the things you want to manifest, it will make itself known.

We have to make some ‘space’ for these sorts of actions to reveal themselves, and there is probably some stuff cluttering it up that has to be looked at first. That is where your attention may need to be.

Our Feeling Good Tends to Have an ‘Ulterior Motive’

This is something I talked about in a recent post but it is really relevant to this topic, and I am sure that we could use a nice reminder so I will discuss it again. We want stuff; it’s okay to want stuff; we’re here having a physical experience and I think there are some things that most of us are going to want and it’s okay to want them, like money, relationships, fulfilling careers,etc…

That we are doing this work with the goal of manifesting specific things is okay; that we still haven’t fully embraced the idea of working on our energy to achieve just feeling happier overall (which is what we really want at the end of the day and is the fastest route to the specific things showing up by the way) is okay and understandable.

I get that it can be hard to maintain that higher vibe when things still aren’t going your way, or when you still have to deal with the unwanted. I’m a fellow human, believe me I get it. And as a little side note, that super-high energy is not really the key in my experience, it was dealing with my shit in a meaningful way, which isn’t always fun. But I digress…

I know you got into a teaching like the law of attraction because it seemed like the answer to all your problems; your mind saw it as a wonderful tool to manipulate reality just to its liking.

But the issue with operating from this space is that our efforts at trying to ‘feel good’ will always be thwarted by a variety of issues, from things not turning out the way our mind wanted them to our reality not changing as quickly as we would like. And this makes it hard to build any real momentum behind this energy.

If this is where you are right now, it’s cool but you have to be prepared for the fact it’s going to cause you a lot of frustration. I think this is something we all go through and it can take awhile before we really start changing our tune. But back to the issues with this modus operandi….

Our happiness will always be conditional; we will always be looking to see if what we are doing is ‘working.’ These good vibes will be very hard to maintain unless we manifest things that give us a ‘reason’ to continue to keep feeling them.

We aren’t trying to feel ‘good’ because we just want to be happier, we are trying to feel good to get something. And because we are ‘trying’ so hard to get something, there is a good chance our positive emotion isn’t as genuine as we think; or the work on our higher vibration brings stuff up to the surface to be dealt with, and we don’t want to deal with it.

So all that ‘positive’ energy is competing with the deeply rooted beliefs and feelings that are too uncomfortable to look at, and have a lot more weight behind them.

In this case, we are working on feeling ‘good’ so the inspired actions reveal themselves. The person that asked the question noted waiting a whole six or seven days (the horror) for inspired action to strike, with the discomfort starting after a mere three or four. That isn’t to rag on him, he is certainly not alone in that.

Again, totally get the frustration. Been there, done that and will probably be there and doing that again many times to come. But you see what I mean about that ‘ulterior motive?’

Which brings me to my next point…

We’re Still Trying to Control with Action

The biggest reason we are frustrated by the lack of ‘inspired action’ striking is because we are still operating from a space of trying to control our lives through action.

Action takes place on the level of ‘effect.’ Trying to force change here without working on our mind–the level of cause–will usually have limited effectiveness.

Sure, we can effect all sorts of change in our life, but it usually doesn’t work out as well, or we don’t feel better like we thought we would, we don’t get the result we thought we would,etc…

By fixating on inspired action, we are still looking to change through ‘doing’ and if we haven’t figured out what to ‘do’ yet, this makes us very uncomfortable.

And us getting all bent out of shape just further delays the variety of manifestations that can help move us forward, give us the clarity we need, provide the solution to a problem,etc…

There may be a good chance that the issue at hand may not even require a particular action on our part, and we’re getting our panties in a bunch for nothing.

This desire to control is not something we are going to give up overnight or maybe ever; but even the slightest willingness to give it up, to believe it’s not all up to you, to believe the Universe is set up to support you, can invite in all sorts of possibilities that were waiting in the wings but could not make their way to you.

Spirit can make its way into even the smallest opening; it will excitedly RSVP to even the most lukewarm of invitations.

Inspired Action Isn’t Always Comfortable Action

When you think of inspired action, you may have this vision of action that feels so overwhelmingly good and right, and you dive right in, tapping into ease and flow immediately.

There is no questioning, no hesitation, you literally can’t stop yourself from doing it. It is totally devoid of any ‘negativity.’ You do something and you immediately manifest something that makes you feel good as a result.

And sometimes, this is exactly what happens–it is very delicious. But often times, this is not how it really goes.

Inspired action is not always comfortable action; and it takes brutal honesty on our part to recognize when we are refraining from an action because our motivation to take it is from a place of trying to manipulate and control, or feeling like we ‘have’ to do this thing or because it just feels uncomfortable, but ultimately, it could really open things up for us, and get us moving in the right direction.

I know a lot of people are drawn to a teaching like the law of attraction because there is this idea that you can be totally passive in your own life, and you never have to take any initiative or do anything–you just think your happy thoughts and your whole life will change.

Yes, it is our energy that creates but we are not living some virtual reality existence; we are here in bodies and we are going to do stuff. Making certain changes in our life will require us to take certain actions, make certain decisions, change behaviors,etc…

You can think happy thoughts all day long about owning a successful business about which you are passionate, but that business isn’t just going to start itself. You can dream all day long about having a successful blog but there isn’t some blogging fairy who is going to write your posts for you.

Because we may never fully believe in the power of our energy over action, taking action can be a very powerful form of energy work because it helps create the expectation we can effect the changes we want in our life.

Obviously the key to that is trying our best to take those actions from as high an energy as possible, and releasing expectations about what we think we will ‘get’ from taking them.

So, are there actions you have been feeling inspired to take but have been refraining because it feels uncomfortable?

Are you really as stuck as you think you are, or is it kind of bullshit?

Are you delaying that first step that can really open things up for you because you can’t see the next 50 beyond it?

Are you still viewing the law of attraction as some sort of ‘tool’ that can magically change your life, that lets you off the ‘hook’ from taking any responsibility for your life or having to make any decisions?

Those sorts of questions are not to be asked from a space of beating yourself up, but just from a space of honesty. This honesty is crucial to doing this ‘work.’

Your Turn

What did you think of the post? Anything resonate in particular? Was there anything significant or particular you did to allow in inspiration? Looking forward to your comments as always.

Hi Kelli, I’m new to your blog, so I thought I would stop by to say hello! Sorry for my comment being super long!!

Action is a big issue for me. I’m an aspiring singer/songwriter who had decided to take the past week off from anything musically related because of burnout and stress. I know I need to put myself out there, but over the past month I had been preparing a cover song for YouTube that I never ended up uploading, because none of the 70+ videos I had taken came out well. I sounded off in all of them. After a while, I decided to not upload the cover out of frustration and feeling absolutely sick of the song and burning myself out with it. I decided to focus more on my songwriting and developing pieces I had written, but took time off as I said before because soon after I dove in and committed to working daily on my songs, I felt burnt out and was resenting music in general.

Now after a little over a week, I’m feeling more refreshed, more ready to ease myself into working on music daily but not forcing myself to jump to spending hours daily right away. I’m not sure if this is the right approach or if I’m screwing myself over, but I’d rather ease into my daily practice instead of jumping into the deep end all at once as I’ve done many times previously. I know I need to upload the songs I wrote online, but their completion has been taking longer than expected. It can be difficult to make yourself write and work on my voice everyday when you really don’t feel like it at all, but I know it must be done.

On the other hand, during my break, I’ve been questioning a lot. Do I really want a music career or would I rather get married and spend time being a mother to many children? Is this the path I really want if I feel so stressed about sharing my work and showing up daily to do the work? Much of the time I wish I didn’t have to work or earn any income at all, even if it’s through a passionate endeavor.

Aside from that, what I’ve been working on is accepting opportunities as they arise. Whether to earn money easily, invitations to go places or people who’d like to talk to me. I definitely manifest these types of situations coming to me without any action, but I’ve turned many of them down out of fear and anxiety. Now I’m working on saying yes to them more often. I’ve passed so many good things up, opportunities that would have greatly helped to improve my life and get where I want to go. These situations don’t appear all the time (limiting expectation!! What if they did??), but when they do, I feel like they could be the path of least resistance for the Universe to deliver my desires. I frequently beat myself up for not acting on opportunities in the past that presented themselves to me because I was too afraid to. I guess all I really need to do is just accept more of them, even if I’m feeling fearful or anxious.

Again, sorry for the super long comment! I’ve been reading some of your posts and love your writing style, it’s very down to earth and concrete.

Hi Ella It sounds like a lot is coming up for you, and while I know it is uncomfortable, being willing to honor it and look at it, and ask the questions you have been asking is really important and it sounds like you are doing that. I definitely suggest being more open to the invitations, opportunities, and the like because you never know what will happen, who you’ll meet,etc…While you do want to work on any issues you feel regarding sharing your work on Youtube, do keep in mind that is just one potential avenue for discovery, and while a potentially powerful one, by no means does that suggest you must use it. If you are having trouble bringing yourself to do things connected with something about which you are truly passionate, that is always indicative of some sort of fear and a variety of beliefs that stop you when it comes to taking actions that could further your career. It can be really uncomfortable to look at those things but you must if you want to get more clarity. That stuff usually runs deep and if we don’t look at it, no amount of action, ‘positive thinking’ or the use of a various tools and techniques will be able to override that.

Hey Kelli, Thank you for writing back!! 🙂 I have spent a lot of time, particularly over the past several months, feeling and really looking at my fears. I spend a lot of time sitting with them and doing visualizations to shift them. There is still a lot of negative emotion present, but I’ve been able to shift a little bit. I’m very surprised with how much time this is taking. Many of these beliefs and emotions run far deeper and are much more intense than I consciously realized.

I like what you mention about the videos being only one way. I just don’t see any other way to get out there right now besides YouTube and SoundCloud, due to my geographic location.

Sometimes I doubt my passion. Ever since I became more serious with music, it’s felt like a chore to me. I’m not sure if this is the right path for me, if the reality of doing this is what would give me the most joy.

Hi Zaira Thanks for your comment and I am glad the post was helpful. That repetition is important because it helps us really recondition our mind, and change the programming. Well, if we are ever in the same place, I would love to meet up!

Tough love Kelli 😉 Good post. I feel that the personal development side of LOA is the important bit, the feeling happier/calmer thing, and any ‘stuff’ that results is kind of incidental, just the icing/frosting on the cake. Sort of. . But that’s just my approach. I enjoyed the latest episode of the ‘Kelli and Ryan Show’ too. That’s not sarcastic btw, the energy you spark between you really comes across.

Hi Jon Thanks for your comment and I see what you are saying. It’s totally cool to want certain things, and doing the tools and techniques to manifest are definitely part of the process and can be super-helpful. In my own experience, my biggest changes happened when I didn’t so much focus on the specific manifestations, but rather trying to get more in touch with my true nature and change myself at those deeper levels–not in a ‘there is something wrong with me’ way but rather to try and get rid of the various fears and faulty thought processes. Once you start changing there, what manifests automatically changes so you’re still kind of doing the same thing, but I found that focus helped get at the true root of discontent more quickly. Oh, and I’m glad you enjoyed the podcasts…it is fun to do them together. Ryan has a lot of great insight on the topic so I like sharing it with you guys.

I really appreciate your podcasts and articles. They’re so helpful. It seems like here you’re talking about manifesting “things” and I’m not sure a relationship would fall under “things”, would it? It’s a little more complicated to manifest a desired relationship. I’m trying to understand how one would manifest, say, living together when one party may not be thinking about that. Any clues? I definitely agree with working within and I do that regularly. In fact, I’ve found myself able to bounce back from low points much quicker than several months ago. Thank you for your priceless information!

Hi Kim Thanks for your comment and I am glad you are enjoying my work. When it comes to relationships, it is important to remember we can’t really control other people’s actions and decisions. There is nothing you can do to guarantee that sort of outcome. What you need to start with is seeing why you want or need that thing to happen? What does that event represent to you? If it doesn’t happen, what does that mean? While looking to ourselves is where we always have to start, it is doubly important when it comes to relationships. We experience all sorts of lack that we look for them to fill, and this causes all sorts of issues as we have all probably seen first hand to some degree. The more we work on ourselves in terms of realizing we are whole and complete just on our own,not basing our self-worth on how others treat us whether we have a relationship,etc…the more easily things will come together when it comes to relationships, the more easily we will allow in what we are really after.

Ahh I love this post so much, it’s so helpful!! Passivity has been my number one set back with understanding the Law of Attraction. It’s like I tried just shutting my eyes and praying that the Universe would take care of my life. Not surprisingly, it didn’t get me very far (though it definitely taught me a lot).

Hi Kate Thanks for your comment and I am glad you enjoyed the post. While our life is created on the level of ‘energy’ for sure, that doesn’t necessarily mean we never have to take any sort of action to get the ball rolling on certain things we would like to see in our lives. The trick is allowing the energy to get some momentum which will then help us discern the actions that are helpful, and keeping an eye on our energy while we act to make sure we aren’t doing it from a space of trying to ‘force’ something to happen. I think there is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to integrating action into the creation process.

Oh my Goodness, I recently discovered your website and I have to say that you are an amazingly insightful and wonderful writer! So clear and easy to follow and understand. Much appreciation to you for providing such important material. I might have to contact further for some coaching. Thank you!

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About Kelli

Hi, I'm Kelli! Welcome to my blog. In a nutshell, I am a writer and coach taking advantage of my mobile sources of income to indulge in my passion for travel. If I can get an internet connection, it's all good, and since May 2011, my husband Ryan and I have been 'citizens of the world.'

This blog is a result of the wisdom I have gained on my own journey to becoming the person I want to be and living the life I want to live. It is my hope what you read here will inspire you to do the same.